We keep pushing people back into prison

We’re failing people returning to our communities from prison. More than 600,000 people are released from state and federal prison each year, and an estimated 68% are rearrested within three years.

To the extent that we pay attention to returning community members, we are focused on further punishing and isolating them, all but guaranteeing that they will again come in contact with the criminal justice system. States and the federal government impose hundreds of thousands of restrictions, called collateral consequences, that limit access to employment, housing, voting and other opportunities for people with criminal records. These restrictions, justified as necessary for public safety, can seem excessively punitive and spiteful.

For example, there are nearly 30,000 state occupation and business licensing restrictions for those with criminal records. That means there are thousands of jobs returning community members are legally barred from doing. In some cases, these are the very jobs for which they received vocational training while incarcerated, such as barbering, plumbing and electrical trades. In addition, roughly 10% of returning community members find themselves homeless upon release from prison, often because laws bar them from living with family in public housing, landlords refuse to rent to them, or they do not have the resources to pay for housing.

For returning citizens, the message is clear — we will always see you as criminals and you will never be fully welcomed back into the community. If we ever hope to reduce recidivism, we must make every effort to change that message by reducing collateral consequences and providing them tools for success through programs like those funded by the federal Second Chance Act.

Christopher Wright Durocher, director of policy development and programming for American Constitution Society; Washington, D.C.

My visit with inmates at Lancaster State Prison underscored the intersection of our union work and their return home. It reminded me of the great responsibility that we all have for one another, and the need to drive the conversation beyond incarceration toward prevention and rehabilitation.

At Lancaster, the men inquired why labor leaders chose to visit. I shared with them our commitment to building a labor movement relevant for all workers — one that sits in these unfamiliar spaces to help develop solutions to the wide challenges impacting our communities. In time, when the formerly incarcerated return home, a 21st century labor movement must be there to foster their search for meaningful employment and support their return to society.

A fair criminal justice system cannot just criminalize our communities; it must instead create opportunities for correction, restoration and reintegration.

Service Employees International Union is committed to a social justice agenda that is not just about resisting in this moment but aimed at providing a course toward a just and equitable future.

I am proud to join Common, the musician and actor, in calling on California legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown to pass reform measures, such as California Senate Bill 10 and other policies that take steps in this right direction toward restorative justice.

Laphonza Butler, president of SEIU Local 2015; Los Angeles

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Some people can’t be redeemed. Some criminal acts call for life without parole.

Changes are needed, and people should get a second chance. But should they get a third or fourth or fifth chance? At some point, we need to realize it is futile.

— Phil Koprowski

The families of murder victims will never have the opportunity for parole from the life missing in theirs. Those who were injured will never be free of their sentence of physical pain and mental trauma.